Reducing costly free-rider effects via OASIS

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-48
Author(s):  
Ming Ming Chiu ◽  
Chi Keung Woo ◽  
Alice Shiu ◽  
Yun Liu ◽  
Bonnie X. Luo
Keyword(s):  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Peer Assessment ◽  
Free Riding ◽  
Assessment System ◽  
Teacher Participation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Free Riders ◽  
Team Projects ◽  
Individual Scores

Purpose A team member might exert little effort and exploit teammates’ work (free riding), which can discourage their efforts. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether free riding devalues team projects and whether an online assessment system for individual scores (OASIS) system can reduce student perceptions of free riding and its harmful effects. OASIS includes: contractual commitment, team discussion, median peer assessment of each member’s contribution, assessment revision opportunities, conditional teacher participation and final appeal. Design/methodology/approach University students (238 in India and 60 in Hong Kong) completed pre-and post-surveys. Findings Students who valued team projects more than others experienced fewer past free riders, viewed team members as contributing equally, or viewed free riding as harming fair grading. After OASIS, these students reported that only 3 percent of their teammates were free riders, and were less likely to perceive that free riders had harmed them or hindered fair grading. Results did not differ across gender or regions. Research limitations/implications These data are correlational rather than longitudinal, and hence cannot determine causality. Practical implications The OASIS system requires a computer. Originality/value This is the first study to test a system for reducing free riders across countries.

Assessment of Individual Student Performance in Online Team Projects

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Alden
Keyword(s):  
Student Performance ◽  
Group Process ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Peer Assessment ◽  
Individual Student ◽  
Assessment Practice ◽  
Group Project ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Team Projects

The use of team projects has been shown to be beneficial in higher education. There is also general agreement that team efforts should be assessed and that the grading ought to represent both (1) the quality of the product developed jointly by the team as well as (2) the degree of participation and quality of contribution by each individual student involved in the group process. The latter grading requirement has posed a challenge to faculty so the question addressed in this paper is “How should individual team members in online courses be assessed for the extent and quality of their contributions to the group project?” To answer this question, four common team member evaluation practices were reviewed and compared to seven criteria representing positive attributes of an assessment practice in an online learning environment. Whereas the Peer Assessment practice received the greatest support in the literature in face-to-face courses, this study that considered the perceptions of graduate faculty and students recommended the Faculty Review practice as the default assessment

An Analytical Model of Collaboration Between Engineers Working on Team and on Individual Projects

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shun Takai
Keyword(s):  
Performance Evaluation ◽  
Curriculum Development ◽  
Analytical Model ◽  
Team Member ◽  
System Development ◽  
Free Riding ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Team Projects ◽  
Team Project ◽  
Functional Teams

Collaboration of engineers with diverse technical background such as those found in cross-functional teams has been addressed as a key for successful system development. Similarly, the benefit of team-based-project class is increasingly emphasized in curriculum development. In a team project, however, there is always a temptation for a team member to free-ride on other team members’ efforts (i.e., receive the same credit without contributing to the project). This paper presents an analytical model in which two engineers work on a team project, as well as individually on separate projects. The engineers receive the same performance evaluation on their team project (whether they actually contribute to the project or not), but independent evaluations on their individual projects. This paper uses the model to identify conditions that discourage free-riding and encourage collaboration between two engineers. The results of the analysis and implications to team projects in industry and in curriculum are discussed.

scholarly journals Utilizing peer interactions to promote learning through a web-based peer assessment system

2009 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lan Li ◽  
Allen L. Steckelberg ◽  
Sribhagyam Srinivasan
Keyword(s):  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Instructional Strategy ◽  
Peer Interactions ◽  
Peer Assessment ◽  
Peer Pressure ◽  
Assessment System ◽  
Time On Task ◽  
Student Interactions ◽  
Web Based ◽  
The Impact

Peer assessment is an instructional strategy in which students evaluate each other’s performance for the purpose of improving learning. Despite its accepted use in higher education, researchers and educators have reported concerns such as students’ time on task, the impact of peer pressure on the accuracy of marking, and students’ lack of ability to make critical judgments about peers’ work. This study explored student perceptions of a web-based peer assessment system. Findings conclude that web-based peer assessment can be effective in minimizing peer pressure, reducing management workload, stimulating student interactions, and enhancing student understanding of marking criteria and critical assessment skills. Résumé : L’évaluation par les pairs est une stratégie pédagogique au cours de laquelle l’étudiant évalue la performance de l’autre dans un but d’amélioration de l’apprentissage. Malgré son usage répondu aux études supérieures, les chercheurs et les enseignants ont mentionné certaines préoccupations, notamment en ce qui a trait au temps que les étudiants consacrent à cette tâche, à l’impact de la pression des pairs sur la justesse de l’évaluation, ainsi qu’à l’inaptitude des étudiants à poser un jugement critique sur le travail de leurs pairs. La présente étude explore les perceptions des étudiants à l’égard d’un système d’évaluation en ligne par les pairs. Nos résultats nous permettent de conclure que l’évaluation en ligne par les pairs peut constituer un moyen efficace de réduire la pression des pairs, de diminuer le travail de gestion, de stimuler les interactions entre étudiants et d’améliorer la compréhension des critères d’évaluation par les étudiants ainsi que leurs compétences d’évaluation critique.

Perceptions of online self- and peer-assessment: accounting students in a large undergraduate cohort

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Michelle Pidduck ◽  
Nadia Bauer
Keyword(s):  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Peer Assessment ◽  
Accounting Education ◽  
Accounting Students ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Student Cohorts ◽  
Reflective Skills

PurposeSelf-assessment (SA) and peer-assessment (PA) are considered useful tools in the development of lifelong learning and reflective skills. The authors implemented a teaching intervention using SA and PA amongst a large cohort of final year undergraduate students. The purpose of this study was to investigate students' perceptions of online SA and PA in order to understand the differences between these perceptions and to allow instructors to adopt differentiated instruction in developing a diverse student group's professional skills.Design/methodology/approachThe research design adopted a mixed methods approach through the use of surveys that were administered before and after the SA and peer-assessment intervention in a taxation module taught at a large public South African university. Through the use of a series of open and closed questions students' perceptions on SA and peer-assessment were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively.FindingsThe findings show that student perceptions of SA and peer-assessment differed significantly, where perceptions of SA were more positive than those towards PA. The findings indicate that SA and peer-assessment still present a challenge in an online context for large student cohorts, despite improved tracking, faster feedback and anonymity.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature by analysing students' perceptions about SA and peer-assessment in an accounting education context and in an online setting in South Africa.

scholarly journals Effective Student Teams: A Faux Hiring And Peer Evaluation Process

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle D. Lane
Keyword(s):  
Evaluation Process ◽  
Free Riding ◽  
Scheduling Problems ◽  
Work Processes ◽  
Team Cohesiveness ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Hiring Process ◽  
Team Projects ◽  
Student Teams ◽  
Student Team

Student team projects provide benefits to the education process and provide experience valued by employers, but they can also be a source of conflict, free-riding and are fraught with fairness issues. The advantages of using teams for faculty are that they provide opportunities for synergies and collaboration, while also simulating group work processes. However, due to free-riding, scheduling problems and differing goals, there are fertile grounds for team conflicts. Therefore, there exists a need for better methods of forming teams and a process to assure shared goals by team members. This research proposes an innovative approach to team creation where students participate in a hiring process that increases team cohesiveness and ultimately team performance. Preliminary empirical validation is also provided that supports this approach.

Addressing free riders in collaborative group work

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 1223-1244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanna Sobhy El Massah
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Mobile Learning ◽  
Group Work ◽  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Free Riding ◽  
Collaborative Group ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Free Riders

Purpose Free-riding behaviour may threaten the success of teamwork, when one or more group members receive the benefits of other members’ achievements with little effort or cost of their own. The purpose of this paper is to investigate students’ collaborative behaviour to address the problem of free riders (FRs) in university settings. Design/methodology/approach The research is an 11-week field study of three senior finance classes and incorporates mobile learning employing Quip and Google Docs applications to facilitate group work. A comprehensive set of quantitative and qualitative methods analysing students’ perceptions, instructors’ reflections, peer reflections and mobile learning methods are used to answer questions pertaining to group work, the work experience, FRs and ways to minimise the last. Findings In this paper, the author shows that students at the university level have positive views of group work despite the presence of FRs. Students like to form their own groups; consequently, peer evaluation appears to be unreliable. The study points to free riding as a serious threat to academic productivity and calls for actions and strategies from institutions and instructors to eradicate this behaviour. Mobile applications enable instructors to track FRs and to some extent discourage their behaviour. Originality/value There are limited studies that focus on FRs in higher education and, to the researcher’s knowledge, no such investigation has been applied in the Middle East and North Africa. Likewise, there is little research available on incorporating mobile learning to assess group work in higher education. This study aims at exploring the existence and associated experiences of free riding, along with methods to curtail the problem. The findings of this study provide a good platform for inquiry into the FR phenomenon in higher education and its impact on student learning, as well as the possible roles of instructors and mobile applications. The findings of this study could be developed further through more research with a view to providing a broader perspective of the situation in Middle Eastern and North African cultures.

Web-Based Peer and Self-Assessment System Design and Development for Elementary School Students

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehmet EMIN KORTAK
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Elementary School Students ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Peer Assessment ◽  
Assessment System ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
School Students ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Web Based ◽  
User Friendly

This research aimed at designing and improving the web-based integrated peer and self- assessment. WesPASS (web-based peer-assessment system), developed in this research, allows students to assess their own or their peers’ performance and project assignments and to report about the result of these assessments so that they correct their assignments. This study employed design-based research. The participants included 102 fourth grade primary school students and their 4 teachers from 2 state and 2 private primary schools in Ankara, Kecioren (Turkey) who employed the system and were engaged in a questionnaire survey to assess its quality. The findings were analyzed through quantitative data analysis. The findings revealed that the system can be used by elementary school students for peer and self-assessment system. The participants stated that WesPASS is simple and user-friendly, and it accelerates the assessment process by employing information technology and allows to share opinions 

The Power of Giving Feedback: Outcomes from Implementing an Online Peer Assessment System

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Peer Assessment ◽  
Individual Case ◽  
Assessment System ◽  
Financial Accounting ◽  
Writing Assignments ◽  
Quality Feedback ◽  
Course Work ◽  
Case Writing ◽  
Online Peer Assessment ◽  
Giving Feedback

ABSTRACTThis paper describes an online system that facilitates peer assessment of students' course work and then uses data from individual case writing assignments in introductory financial accounting to empirically examine associations between peer assessment and case writing performance. Through this description and empirical analysis, the paper addresses the following questions: (1) Why use peer assessment? (2) How does online peer assessment work? (3) Is student peer assessment reliable? (4) What do students think of peer assessment? (5) Does student peer assessment contribute to academic performance? Three key findings from this study are that students at the sophomore level were able to generate reasonably reliable feedback for peers, they valued the experiences involved in providing peer feedback, and giving quality feedback had a more significant and enduring impact on students' accounting case analyses than did receiving quality feedback, after controlling for differences in accounting knowledge and case writing skills.

Corporate acceleration process: a systems psychodynamics perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 1163-1180
Author(s):  
Piotr Wójcik ◽  
Krzysztof Obłój ◽  
Aleksandra Wąsowska ◽  
Szymon Wierciński
Keyword(s):  
Open Innovation ◽  
Negative Emotions ◽  
Acceleration Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Third Phase ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Social Defenses ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the emotional dynamics of the corporate acceleration process, using the systems psychodynamics perspective.Design/methodology/approachThe study applies inductive multiple case study of embedded 10 cases of corporate acceleration, covering both incumbent and startup perspectives, occurring in the context of a corporate accelerator.FindingsWe find that (1) the process of corporate acceleration involves three phases, each of them is dominated by a different emotional state (hope, anxiety and acceptance), triggering different behavioral responses; (2) as a means to deal with negative emotions, entrepreneurs and corporate acceleration program's team members develop different mechanisms of dealing with contradictories in subsequent acceleration phases (defense and copying mechanisms), which are reflected in their behaviors. Coping mechanisms with goal reformulation (i.e. refocus from the officially declared “open innovation” goals toward mainly symbolic ones) is an effective strategy to manage negative emotions in third phase of the acceleration.Research limitations/implicationsOur sample is limited to two relatively similar accelerators established by telecom companies, and therefore, our theoretical and practical conclusions cannot be generalized.Practical implicationsWe supplement the studies of corporate accelerators that imply how to design them better and improve decision-making rules with recommendation that in order to improve their effectiveness in terms of learning and innovations, their managers need not only to learn how to manage structural and procedural differences but also how to overcome social defenses triggered by corporate–startups cooperation.Originality/valueBy documenting a multidimensional impact of acceleration process, and especially shedding light on psychodynamic aspects behind such liaisons, this paper contributes to richer understanding of corporate–startup relationships, typically examined through a rationalistic lens of strategy literature. The study contributes to interorganizational research and open innovation literature, by showing that corporate acceleration process is marked by phases based on the type of emotions intertwined with the nature and dynamism of its life cycle. It indicates how these emotions are managed depending on their type.

Statistical assessment of peer opinions in higher education rankings

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Ghiasi ◽  
Grigorios Fountas ◽  
Panagiotis Anastasopoulos ◽  
Fred Mannering
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Peer Assessment ◽  
Parameter Estimates ◽  
Individual Parameter ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Assessment Scores ◽  
College And University ◽  
Higher Education Rankings ◽  
College Of Engineering

Purpose Unlike many other quantitative characteristics used to determine higher education rankings, opinion-based peer assessment scores and the factors that may influence them are not well understood. Using peer scores of US colleges of engineering as reported annually in US News and World Report (USNews) rankings, the purpose of this paper is to provide some insights into peer assessments by statistically identifying factors that influence them. Design/methodology/approach With highly detailed data, a random parameters linear regression is estimated to statistically identify the factors determining a college of engineering’s average USNews peer assessment score. Findings The findings show that a wide variety of college- and university-specific attributes influence average peer impressions of a university’s college of engineering including the size of the faculty, the quality of admitted students and the quality of the faculty measured by their citation data and other factors. Originality/value The paper demonstrates that average peer assessment scores can be readily and accurately predicted with observable data on the college of engineering and the university as a whole. In addition, the individual parameter estimates from the statistical modeling in this paper provide insights as to how specific college and university attributes can help guide policies to improve an individual college’s average peer assessment scores and its overall ranking.

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